After more than 40 years of making music, singer-songwriter Elvis Costello still looks for new ways to make every performance spontaneous and fresh.

His current tour — titled “Detour” — places the British rocker onstage alone most of the time, with a giant screen behind him displaying words and images relating to his lyrics and his life. The tour brings him Tuesday to Santa Rosa’s Luther Burbank Center.

Costello, 61, has been married to pianist Diana Krall since 2003, and their twin sons were born in December 2006. His memoir, “Unfaithful Music and Disappearing Ink,” was published late last year. Speaking by phone from his home in Vancouver, B.C., Costello shared his perspective on his life and career, and his ever-changing relationship with his own music.

Q: How did you come up with your plan for the “Detour” tour?

The way I think of these stage shows, really, is that they’re a way of framing the songbook, to generate the element of surprise, for me as much as for the audience. I need to guarantee a good night. I don’t want the same predictable set list. The title of the tour suggests that it takes an unusual route through all the songs I have at my disposal.

Q: How has the tour developed over time?

I originally started with the idea that it was like a radio show that was taking place somewhere imaginary. Then I built it around the television you see behind me on the stage, with all sorts of curious images appearing, which are sometimes non sequiturs and other times are actually directly related to the song I’m singing. I added paraphernalia to the set until the stage became the kind of playground I wanted.

Q: It seems a durable concept. The tour goes on and on.

We’ve already covered a lot of miles with this tour. It’s already been to Europe once. It’s going back to Europe again in the summer. This the third or fourth run through North America.

Q: How does this approach help you stay enthusiastic out on the road?

Obviously I could just stand out there at center stage and sing my songs. But now I have three or four positions on the stage, and they all invite a different style of performance. At the center, I have a lot of electrical guitar sounds available to me. I have a piano. I also have a position where I sit down and pick up a small guitar. That’s one of my favorite moments in the show, because it’s the place where I might tell a story.

Q: How did you happen to team up with Megan and Rebecca Lovell of Larkin Poe for this tour?

It’s very extraordinary to me that, as young as they are, I first met them on my first concert after my boys were born, and now they’re nine years old. I didn’t know Larkin Poe’s ages at the time, but obviously they were teenagers, because they’re in their 20s now. Over the past number of years, they opened for me on a few of theses runs, both in America and Europe. And it’s been a real joy singing together, because three quarters of the way through the show, they come out and it changes the approach.

Q: How so?

Because of their age, they’re not granting any false status to the songs because these were once hits, or they’ve grown up with them. They just listen to them as music, and therefore they’ll propose doing a song I had never thought of doing as a trio. And it might turn into something really great. I’m really grateful for that. Having harmony for even a handful of songs leavens my natural tendency to sing incredibly slow songs in minor keys, preferably flat ones ... I’m making a joke, obviously.

Q: Are you drawing from your entire repertoire? Are there any songs you’ve permanently retired?

There are obviously some that wouldn’t work in solo performance. There are some where you absolutely have to have a band. But then a new light is found on some songs just by the act of playing them in solo performance. You might change the tempo ever so slightly, and just by having a different beat, the story I was trying tell is laid out in a different way. I find I don’t have any songs that are completely out of the question. Sometimes someone will ask for something, and I’ll play it and I’ll be surprised what I find in it.

Q: Any specific examples?

People really wouldn’t expect me to play “Beyond Belief,” for example, because that sounds like a band venture, but that has worked as a solo. “When I Was Cruel” turned into something really emotional that was quite different from when I played it as a kind of hypnotic loop. When I played it purely as an acoustic guitar song, it was really something else again. I’ll get on nights when I’ll alight on four or five songs from the “King of America” album, or two or three songs from “National Ransom” or something.

Q: Will you be introducing any new songs on the tour?I may well do. I’m not going to commit to that, or announce it, because then the pirates will be there with their fingers lurking over the “record” button. Then everything you do is overheard before you’ve got it to where you want it. That’s one of the best ways to discourage recording conventionally. There’s no obligation on my part to release every single thing that I write. I like to know what I’m offering people, and give ‘em a square deal. I might do something expectedly, but you won’t know when it’s coming.

Q: Are you continuing to write new songs on a regular basis?I have written a phenomenal amount of songs over the last four years, all of which have been for stage musicals, three of them in different states of preparation. It is slightly frustrating to have really good songs you’re dying to play for people, but of course, if you’re writing them for a production, you have to be patient and wait for that opening night.

Enjoy mrs. And dr. Luther. Counting on u for a setlist when I awaken at 2:00 in the morning NY time. Oh, and any ticket stubs you can find on the floor for your bronxapostle. enjoy your shows please. Hope he plays that beautiful SANTA CRUZ for you one time. Best, benny

Santa Rosa, California, was the first stop on Elvis Costello’s “Detour” tour, with Larkin Poe opening — the harmonizing Lovell rock sisters Megan (slide guitar) and Rebecca (mandolin), who joined Elvis on the numerous encores. These women have charisma and musical chops, in evidence during their opening, but showcased as they backed up Elvis himself.

As music lovers came into the reclaimed Luther Burbank Center for the Arts (thanks to the Lytton Band of Pomo Indians, who have so wisely used their re-naming rights), we were treated to a giant TV screen on the stage, running old Elvis Costello MTV videos.

Then, during Elvis’ show, that TV screen showed an ongoing slide show, variously with historical photos, an old movie still, or poetic quotes, which would then fall apart with letters scattering. (Someone called out, “Turn off the TV!” and Elvis shrugged and said “You came here to get AWAY from the TV. But there won’t be any fucking CNN or FOX News on this TV.”)

My highlights: solo Elvis playing over his own sampled bass riffs on “Watching the Detectives,” the trio on “Love Field,” and Elvis’s encore from inside the TV set with “Alison” and “Pump It Up.” I remember other shows like this, with Lucinda Williams, or Rodney Crowell, where they would play as long as the audience was still responding, so treat encores as indicators of audience interest, and show your appreciation!

My favorite song of the night, though, was “Shipbuilding,” which he performed at a grand piano, and which was deep with the pathos of the hopes of the blue-collar worker, those who understand that jobs come at the cost of the lives of their own boys in war.

Elvis Costello still has the vocal chops to sing solo for more than two hours, punctuated by stories, though the rocky first half-hour was almost an opening act for his own show. This is a show that will only tighten and improve with time — and what a thrill to be part of its development.

Just back from first Detour show in Santa Rosa - good stuff! Quite emotional - Ascension Day was introduced with stories of working with AT and the night ended with "I'm forever blowing bubbles" over the PA and a picture of Milo at work .

There was indeed a Dan Hicks tribute - "It's Not My Time to Go", which closed the main set - and it was lovely, about as emotional a performance as I've seen him give. Rest of the show was lovely, too. Not quite as amazing as the '04 show with Steve Nieve at the same venue (still my favorite E.C. gig I've attended), but pretty solid for a tour-starter, and E.C. was definitely enjoying himself; lots of banter and stories. The crowd gave him standing O's for pretty much every song during the encores. I thought his voice was in good form, way better than the last couple times I've seen him. Other than the guy who shouted to turn off the TV (meant more playfully than a heckle, I should think), the crowd didn't make a peep, except for one lady who shouted, "I like your mustache!" during the sit-down set. Opening video was "Monkey to Man", which may or may not have been a sly reference to the fact that he debuted the song in the same venue. At the very end of the show, the house lights stayed down, P.A. music came on and was abruptly shut off, then one of the stage crew put a microphone out at the edge of the stage. The crowd took this as a sign that maybe E.C. was coming out to do one more tune and cheered lustily, but then there was a rather frantic wringing of hands from other crew backstage, and the music came on again, and the lights came up. I'm guessing the mic was meant to be a tribute to Milo, and there was some miscommunication? Anyway, bit of an awkward note to end things on, but still a great night.

Here's the setlist. Encores still need to be verified, but I'm pretty sure the main set is accurate.

EDIT: Encores updated. This, I believe, is the full list.

Complicated ShadowsWatch Your StepAccidents Will HappenAscension DayChurch Underground45Either Side of the Same Town

lieutzip wrote: Complicated ShadowsWatch Your StepAccidents Will HappenAscension DayChurch Underground45Either Side of the Same TownMatter of Time (piano)Shipbuilding (piano)Every Day I Write the BookThe ComediansWalking My Baby Back Home (sit down)Ghost Train (sit down)Beyond Belief (sit down)Watching the DetectivesIt's Not My Time to Go - Dan Hicks cover (piano)

Listening to the Dan Hicks version of "It's Not My Time To Go" It seems a perfect match for Larkin Poe on backing vocals, but I see Elvis did a piano arrangement solo. Did it still have the bossa nova feel ? I'm curious to hear it.

Nice to see Elvis going hatless (at least some of the time) I Love his version of "Down on The Bottom" The studio version of which MUST be released.

A couple of other points..not entirely related to this

1. Anyone know if Larkin Poe are scheduled for the European leg of the tour ? I see they are only listed for Antwerp & Paris thus far.

2. I Hope EC & Burt get a move on with their much discussed forthcoming project(s)..I'm usually in no hurry for new material but in this particular case time is ticking on if you know what I mean by that.